The Real TWINS! (Sunstreaker & Sideswipe)

Author: starscream, August 30th, 2009

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now. So these are the real twins and none of that ROTF troll twin garbage of late. I actually don’t have G1 Sunstreaker, but I do have the red Diakron (pre-transformers) version. This version actually displays well and shows off their fraternal similarities better in vehicle mode. Although in time I will have to make room for the G1 when I find him at a decent price / condition.

Sunstreaker isn’t complete and only came with 1 vintage missile. Got him for roughly $40 shipped and in very good condition. The hand is actually a resin copy. A pretty damn good copy. It really only needs these 2 pieces to make his robot mode complete. I find the shoulder pieces a bit distracting (and expensive). I actually saw the shoulder pieces on ebay the other day and it went up to ~$30 shipped which was out of my set budget at the time. But who knows I might actually spend more later to complete him depending on my mood.

Sideswipe is the TRU exclusive commemorative reissue. He is complete and dead mint. His missiles are still on the tree so I didn’t bother removing one for the pictures since I display both of them in vehicle mode. Got him for $15 shipped. I liked him so much I also have a MISB dupe and a MISB Red Alert from the same series. I do want the G2 mold but not actively looking.

I wasn’t ever into the Autobot cars when I was growing up. But having them now, I must say these guys are a must have in any collection. Even with Sunstreaker’s disproportioned (ape-like) robot mode, he is a gem. And Sideswipe just looks damn good. Their transformations are not intricate, but both are satisfying to say the least. Parts of their transformations can even be seen in modern toys; notably how Sunstreaker’s arms fold up (i.e. Alternators and Universe).

They both have plenty of solid, diecast and chrome parts. Sideswipe is by far the heavier of the two. Interestingly enough, the feet on both figures is where the diecast resides (the rear section for Sideswipe, and the front section for Sunstreaker). It’s amazing even over 25 years ago how well these toys held up in both engineering and quality compared to today’s toys. I do have the Universe versions of both of them, but Sideswipe is currently MOSC and staying that way until I find more room to display them, else I would have had them in this write up as well.

For any Transformers fans, get these guys now. Sunstreaker is going to be the more expensive of the two simply because Hasbro/Takara either lost or damaged the mold. So no new Sunstreakers are available unless you want to fare into the KO realm. Nothing wrong with knock offs as I do have some, but there will be quality issues regardless. And they’re quite expensive to boot, so might as well spend $30 more for vintage.

Anyways on to the pictures. You can see an added bonus. Sideswipe and his mini-me counterpart. Very cool toy as well. Too bad there isn’t a Sunstreaker WST.